Bruscato wants support to keep killers locked up

Tuesday

Feb 25, 2014 at 6:11 PMFeb 25, 2014 at 6:29 PM

By Kevin HaasRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD - Four of Winnebago County's most notorious convicted killers are up for parole this year.

Winnebago County State's Attorney Joe Bruscato on Tuesday detailed efforts to make sure they never walk free. He also asked for community support through petitions and letters to lobby the Illinois Prisoner Review Board to deny parole for each prisoner: Robert Henry Lower, Curtis Brownell, Calvin Madison and Simon Peter Nelson.

"We do not want these individuals released during any point in time now or in the future," Bruscato said at a news conference. He called their crimes some of the worst in the history of Winnebago County.

The four killers periodically come up for parole because they were sentenced under Illinois' antiquated indeterminate sentencing laws. All four are up for parole again this year, with one due for a hearing this week and two due in March. The Prisoner Review Board takes petitions from the community into consideration when it decides whether to grant parole.

Bruscato has worked with the victim's family in each case and plans to attend the hearings to object to each prisoner's potential release. Jo Daviess County State's Attorney John Hay and Boone County State's Attorney Michelle Courier have joined the effort in cases that cross into their jurisdictions.

The state's attorney's office "will be doing everything we can to support the (victims') families, who have to relive these tragic events every time a parole hearing comes up," Bruscato said.

The Prisoner Review Board is scheduled to decide Thursday whether to free Lower, who raped and killed 15-year-old newspaper carrier Joey Didier in 1975. The board is scheduled to decide whether to free Madison and Brownell on March 27. A hearing at which objections to parole will be heard is scheduled for both on March 11. Brownell kidnapped, raped and killed 17-year-old Louise Betts as she was trying to hitch a ride home in 1977. Before he was arrested, he also sexually assaulted and tried to kill a second Winnebago County woman who was seven months pregnant. Madison robbed 19-year-old John Hogan at gunpoint at the Gas-for-Less service station, 2201 W. State St., in 1970. He then ordered him into the bathroom, forced him to his knees and shot him four times in the back of the head.

Nelson is scheduled to appear June 3 before a member of the Prisoner Review Board to make his case for parole. He killed his six children - Jenny, 12; Simon Peter III, 10; Andrew, 8; Matthew, 7; Roseann, 6; and David, 3 - with a knife and rubber mallet while they slept in their Rockford home in 1978. He then drove to Milwaukee to beat his wife, who was seeking a divorce.